The making of plant and flower bouquets requires skill in plant selection, assembly, and arrangement, and in the securing of stems to create a desired finished product. Oftentimes, careful, artful arranging of flowers and securing of stems requires two people to maintain shape and uniformity of the design as the bouquet is created, and to handle and maneuver the stems below the bouquet, when the design is completed. Although vase-covering grids allow for some hands-free use, they are static devices that must be used at a set tabletop height. Static floral arranging forms and devices require the floral arranger to pre-cut plant stems before arranging and securing the plants in their finished form. This can lead to wear, damage and waste of plants from over handling. This can also lead to waste if stems are prematurely cut too short simply to fit current devices. Static devices can also lead to user fatigue from standing or sitting in one position for too long in order to prepare a single or multiple bouquets. Florists also use an article that utilizes a material known as floral foam into which plants are inserted. One such article has at one end floral foam in substantially a spherical shape, and at the other end below the floral foam, a support and handle for holding the floral foam and is generally referred to as a floral foam form. Some floral foam is non-biodegradable, and in certain cases is manufactured from carcinogenic material, such as carbon black and formaldehyde. In addition to the environmental drawbacks, floral foam forms are inconvenient and clumsy to use, requiring the floral arranger to hold the handle for long periods while designing a bouquet or having to place the form on a table top or work bench for a variety of reasons, such as user fatigue and plant selection. Placing a partially completed arrangement on a table can cause premature bruising or even death of fragile flowers. Professional florists or hobbyists who use floral foam forms for creating bouquets would benefit from an invention that does not have the drawbacks typically present in static bouquet arranging devices or those that use floral foam, and that also provides a safe and ecologically friendly method for creating uniformly shaped bouquet designs of varying outlines and sizes, without the need or assistance of others, avoids unnecessary cutting, handling and waste of plants during assembly, and is adjustable to varying heights and depths to provide ergonomic comfort to the floral arranger.
One bouquet assembly device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,237 discloses a workholder and means for supporting the workholder in a cantilever fashion. One drawback is that the apparatus is not adjustable in height or depth once fixed in place on a tabletop. Additionally, a fixed distance exists between the workholder and the apparatus base requiring cutting of plants prior to arrangement and assembly.
Another device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,184 discloses the combination of a stationary floral foam based holder for receiving plants together with a removable guide wire frame, through which, cut plants are passed and inserted, stem first, into the floral foam, such that the stems do not extend substantially beyond the area defined by the guide wires. Once the floral foam is filled with plants, the guide may be removed. A drawback is that the apparatus is not adjustable in height or depth once fixed in place on a tabletop. This device also requires pre-cutting of plants prior to arrangement and assembly and may also necessitate multiple cuts to plants as they are arranged within the foam form. Also, the open wire frame does not guarantee uniformity in shape or design of the final product, if these are important considerations. Each of these devices requires use of a floral foam holder, vase, pot or other container to hold the plants while they are arranged.